CONFIDENTIAL
4.
The REGOO
elections
a re the first of their kind:
REGCO was formed оп a provisional basis in 1985 to provide for the New Territories and outlying islands those services
al ready provided elsewhere by URBCO. The Provisional
Council comprised 12 appointed members, 9 members elected by the local District Boards, and 3 ex-officio members from
the Heung Yee Kuk (an old statutory body which represents
indigenous New Territories residents and advises the Hong
Kong Government on New Territories
elections on 6 March, also on a
produced 12
"provisional"
affairs).
The REGCO
wide franchise, have
elected members who together with the 24
members will constitute a fully established Council with effect from 1 April. The turnout in these
first REGCO elections was 36% of
36% of the registered electorate.
That this figure was a good deal higher than the URBCO
unsurprising, given the more
election
turnout
i s
homogeneous population
local allegiances still
the New Territories.
and
long established patterns of
surviving in at least surviving in at least some parts of
The Chinese, will be rakching his aspect.
5.
Hong Kong consider these results to be very Of those elected, over half are from
satisfactory overall.
the social welfare and education sectors, with businessmen and lawyers also well
represented. They are younger and better educated than their predecessors. 16 of the 27
successful candidates a re back ed by various political
groups; 3 are supported by leftist unions, (overtly at least) by the pro- Taiwan Kuomintang.
Implications
6.
but none
In terms of the Hong Kong Government's continuing efforts to develop a more representative and participatory
system of government at
district and regional level, the
results of the latest elections are encouraging.
growing number of social and educational workers on the two
Councils may however have a mo re direct effect on
The
URBCO's
attitudes in particular,
tradition of
given that Council's
comparatively strident criticism of
long
central
CONFIDENTIAL
/government